“Level39, Wood Wharf and Canary Wharf are all part of that big picture.”

It’s building on a legacy that goes back decades in this corner of the East End.

“Canary Wharf has been built over the last 30 years from a flat, derelict dock and we are part of a tradition that is adaptable,” he said.

“Isaac Newton said you see further by standing on the shoulders of giants.

“I have that impression here.

“To have this heritage as well as the flexibility we have here is awesome.

“Not just of startups or global communities, but for companies going through the incredible challenges of scaling from one to the other.

“I think in that way, Canary Wharf is unique.

“At each stage it has moved to adapt to changing market expectations, whether it’s the flexibilty of Level39 or the fantastic infrastructure of Wood Wharf.”

For Ben, it’s this very legacy from the area’s existing business giants that creates a fertile ground for startups in Level39 – and soon, Wood Wharf – to flourish.

“In Level39, we’ve got 1,250 of the world’s most ambitious people from 48 different countries, all coming together to address closely related market problems,” he said.

“And, of course, the biggest amount of customers around here are financial services. So it’s no surprise that Level39 is the biggest cluster of fintech businesses in Europe.

“It’s the problems of financial innovation and security that play on the minds of the 120,000 super smart, internationally connected people in the buildings around us.

“Many of the companies in Canary Wharf struggle to be as agile because they have established processes and technology systems based on legacy.

“With the best will in the world, change is really hard.

“So we create conditions where organisations can team up with small ones, and trust can develop.”

That’s where Level39, and soon Wood Wharf, come in. Will there be an element of rivalry between the two hubs?

“Wood Wharf will be anything but competition to Level39,” Ben said.

“This is all about complementarity.

“If you think about Canary Wharf as a whole, it’s the full spectrum.

“Canary Wharf can support companies at every stage, from one single person sitting at a hot desk right through to a company employing 10,000 people in a single building.”

And which stage will Wood Wharf support?

“It’s not about ticking different boxes for different stages,” Ben said.

“It’s more about supporting the whole journey, so that at every stage of your company’s development you have what you need.

“That’s not just about having the right infrastructure.

“It’s critically about getting support in accessing customers, and learning from other entrepreneurs and leaders who have trodden the same path before you.”

In terms of the diversity and social mobility that the launch of Wood Wharf promises to bring to the area, Ben claimed that this, too, would build on the work already being done by Level39 and Canary Wharf Group at large.

“We’re trying to find conditions in which everybody’s ambition can find its maximum outcome,” he said.

“We pay close attention to the research on the circumstances that lead to bias within startup communities – particularly bias to middle-aged, extroverted, white men – but we’ve got a lot of work to do.

“It’s really important to have conditions where people that are socio-economically diverse can mingle, like with Wood Wharf’s affordable housing. Canary Wharf Group’s commitment to its Tower Hamlets community is vast and Wood Wharf adds to that.

“But we also need to support neurodiversity.

“In tech it’s really important to allow people who have conditions like autism to be able to play a full and active part, and bring their talent in a supportive environment.

“Ultimately, we aim to create an environment for productive encounters across boundaries.

“Smart people seek to get together and difference creates the opportunity to play around and explore what’s possible.”